How the Cat Naps
by Tezla44
Summary: An angsty, fluffy one-shot. Chat Noir has a peculiar way of curling up to sleep that, while initially a bit of an issue, inadvertently leads to something wonderful.


**A/N: Hey! Just thought I'd entertain you all with a short little fluffy piece inspired by one of my own habits. After a long day of writing an essay for history class, I couldn't help but unwind with some Ladynoir/Adrinette angst and fluff that came to me in a fit of productivity. To those of you who've been following my other work, don't worry, On Identity and Laser Tag will be continued. This just came more naturally tonight!**

Ladybug notices the strange way he sleeps when she comes across Chat Noir on accident. She's just leaping from rooftop to rooftop, swinging to and fro at top speed when she passes a weird black lump next to a chimney. She actually runs by it at first, only stopping and backing up after she has a few seconds to process what she'd just seen.

And there he is. Curled up in fetal position, back pressed tightly against the bricks, Chat Noir is lying on the ground against the chimney, fast asleep. She purses her lips with a bemused smile and places her hands on her hips, watching him. He snores, and she can't help but giggle a little. That's so very Chat. Of course even in his sleep he'd be obnoxiously noisy, one way or another.

It's funny, though. It's not a very catlike behavior, at least she doesn't think it is. Mylene had a dog, a beagle/something-or-other mix named Isabel that loved to lie around the house on it's side, back pressed against a wall, the bottom stair, a cabinet. Marinette had found something about it funny the first few times she'd been over there for homework or a girls night with her classmates. The dog would always stare up at anyone who passed by as it lay there, as if to say "what are you looking at?".

She'd asked Mylene if she had any idea why the dog did that, and her short classmate merely shrugged. "Libby is a lazy little lump." She'd said, with no small amount of affection. But she'd continued on after a second of thought. "I think it might make her feel secure? She was a rescue pup."

Lady wonders if that's the case with Chat Noir. She wouldn't be surprised if her mangy alley cat was a foster child or didn't have a very tight-knit family. Not to say she thought poorly of him, but he seemed like he fell very easily into the freedom their suits afforded them, like he didn't have many ties to his civilian life.

Chat Noir grumbles a little in his sleep, and she strains her well-trained ears, trying to make out anything discernable he might be saying. It doesn't seem like he's actually saying anything, though she crouches down to listen closely.

Chat Noir isn't a very heavy sleeper, however, and the first signs that he's waking up are a pair of emerald green eyes blinking sleepily at her. He yawns, stretching out of fetal position, pushing his back against the wall and lifting his head to get a better look at her.

"Well, I must still be dreaming." He says, a tired but enthusiastic grin spreading across his features. "Surely a lady as beautiful as the one I see before me cannot possibly be real."

"I certainly exist a reality apart from you, ma _minou_." She answers teasingly. She flicks her wrist a little with an open palm. "Scooch over."

Chat Noir nods, pushing himself into a sitting position, sliding upwards against the bricks. Ladybug lowers herself down to sit next to him, and there's a couple seconds of peaceful silence before either of them speak.

"So, why choose this scenic rooftop for your R&R?" Ladybug asks, turning to look at him. Chat Noir shrugs playfully.

"Isn't obvious? The view is breathtaking. Of course, not as lovely as it would be to doze next to you, but I'll take what I can get." He says with a little chuckle, smiling at her.

Ladybug crosses her arms. She expected the flirting, but she'd like an answer to this particular question, and she knows Chat will give her a straight answer if she presses for more. "Unfortunately, I'd rather not wake up to tuna-scented morning breath, so you'll have to forgive me for turning down that offer. In all seriousness, though, is everything okay? You have somewhere to sleep at night?"

Chat smiles, but it's tinged with a more serious expression that Ladybug isn't used to seeing on him. "Is it so hard to believe I just wanted to sleep under the stars?" He asks, looking up above them before redirecting his attention to his partner once more. "But yes, I have somewhere to sleep. I just haven't been sleeping well. It may be hard to believe, but these beautiful green beauties of mine have some very dark rings around them right now." He adds a little wink, emphasizing his eyes.

"Besides your domino mask, you mean?"

"Besides my domino mask." Chat confirms, and Ladybug bites her lip.

"Well… Do you have any idea why you haven't been sleeping very well?" Ladybug asks. She watches as Chat twiddles his thumbs for a moment.

"Well, as I'm sure you've noticed, we have rather erratic work schedules." Chat said.

"That we do."

"And I happen to…" Chat Noir sighs, looking away from Ladybug,at the rooftops that stretch across the night sky. "I probably shouldn't keep talking, sorry. This kind of goes into civilian life details and I know you don't-"

Ladybug cuts him off, gently grabbing him by his wrist. "Chat, it's fine. Just be as ambiguous as possible. Unless you really think you can't explain without revealing who you are?"

Chat knits his brow, then nods. "I think I'll manage. Um. Well, I happen to have a… part time job. One that really requires me to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, which just isn't happening with akumas attacking at all hours."

"I suppose that must be hard with a tail made of flat leather." Ladybug observes. Chat chuckles a little dryly, grabbing his tail in one hand and looking at it contemplatively.

"It is indeed. If only I was Squirrel Noir." He pushes his lower lip back, briefly imitating the overbite of the nut-hoarding animal. Ladybug snickers a little despite herself.

"Anyway. So how does sleeping outside help?" Ladybug asks, a little confused.

"It doesn't. Not directly." Chat admits. "But uh… Well, my f- My boss asked me what was going on, and I kind of… Made up a lie about why I couldn't sleep, and my proposed solution actually made it even harder for me to sleep."

"I'm a little lost." Ladybug said. "I'm not super clear on what's going on."

Chat grimaces, an expression that Ladybug definitely isn't used to seeing outside their worst battles. This is unfamiliar territory between the two of them, and it's very unsettling. Ladybug would do anything for her partner, but conversations about their personal lives, unlike mid-combat peril, isn't something she's sure she can help with.

"I, uh, I guess you could say I altered my night-time rituals or habits or whatever. I… Oh, screw it, I'm not going to try and be _claw-_ ver about this, be- _claws_ it won't be _cat_ -astrophically detailed unless you're _furry fur_ -miliar with my secret identity _fur_ some reason." Chat says. Internally, Ladybug wonders if the way that sentence was absolutely laden with cat puns is a good or bad sign. It seems like he noticed how cagey he was being, but she doesn't want him to bottle up his feelings for her sake.

"Go on?" She says, at a loss for anything else to say.

"I told my boss I couldn't sleep because my bed was uncomfortably positioned, so I moved it to the middle of the room, and now I can't _litter_ -ally sleep at all." Chat says.

Ladybug blinks. That seems like an easy fix on several fronts. Why was Chat having trouble? "Oh, huh. Uh. First off, that's kind of a poor lie-"

"Agreed, not my finest fib."

"-and secondly, why not just move your bed back?" She suggests.

"I live with my boss. He'd notice." Chat Noir says, flatly. "And he wouldn't take well to me being wishy-washy about my sleeping habits. He'd make me cut some… important past-times out of my schedule to make me better rested."

Ladybug is at a loss for words. It sounds like Chat Noir is being exploited for child labour, and he'd never let that happen to anyone else, so why is he letting it happen to himself?

"...Cat got your tongue, huh?" He says after a few moments. "Sorry. I should've known I was getting too personal."

Ladybug's heart sinks deeper into her chest. "N-Not at all, you silly cat! I just… I don't know what to say, Chat. How can… Your boss is taking advantage of you! You need to speak to someone, a social worker or-"

Chat Noir presses a finger to her lips, a regret-laden grin on his face. "I appreciate the concern, _Bugette._ I truly do. But unfortunately, my boss is… My boss is also my legal guardian, and he does have my best interests at heart. He's just misguided."

"I don't care if he's misguided! No one has the right to treat you like the way it sounds like he treats you!" Ladybug protests, and Chat shakes his head.

"Maybe so, but he doesn't mistreat me in any way a social worker could change." The leather-clad youth says, sounding vaguely bitter. "So please, don't worry about that. I promise, if I was seriously in danger or being abused, you'd be the first to know about it." Chat holds a hand to his heart, the other in the air. "Superhero's honor."

Ladybug stares at him for a good, long minute. Eventually, she sighs, looking down at the roofing tiles below their feet and nodding. "Alright, Chat, I trust you."

"Thank you." Chat Noir says, and he sounds sincere. The duo are silent for a moment, the cool night air settling over their young bodies. A chill runs through the breeze and Chat shivers. "I guess I should've brought blankets if I was going to have a cat nap, huh?."

Ladybug places her hand on his, an act that surprises the both of them. "Chat," she begins, her voice soft, nearly a whisper. "Why can't you sleep with your bed in the middle of the room?"

"...Promise you won't tease me? I know, I know, I normally like it when you tease me, but-"

"But this is different, I know, ma _minou_." Ladybug says, and she gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. Chat looks at her with an expression that she can't read, no matter how hard she tries.

"This might sound kind of childish, but… Hey, I guess I'm just a big kitten. But uh...I've never been very good at sleeping alone, as long as I can remem _purr_. Up until around a year and a half ago, three or four nights a week, I'd be crawling into bed to sleep next to my mother." Chat admits. "Kind of silly considering I was thirteen."

"No, no, that's… cute. A little codependent, maybe, but cute." Ladybug says. She feels her voice wavering a little, and she does her best to clear her throat before she continues speaking. "What happened?"

"...She's gone." Chat says. His own voice was breaking a little, but he speaks with a certain resignation that made it clear he doesn't harbour any hopes of her coming back. "S-Since January of last year."

Ladybug winces. "Ch-Chat, are you an orphan?"

"Something… Something like that." Her partner says. In the back of her mind, Ladybug can't help but feel like his story reminds her of someone else she knows, but she pushes it away. Right now, all of her attention is solely on Chat. Her dependable, self-sacrificing, fun-loving kitten who currently looks as miserable as she's even seen him.

His eyes are watering, threatening tears. She sees that and she suddenly understands that they are at a tipping point, at a moment they have been rushing irrevocably towards since the moment she crashed into him while swinging through Paris on that first fateful day. It's been a long-time coming, and she certainly didn't predict it happening when she set out for patrol tonight, but she knows in the deepest recesses of her heart and in the core of her being that tonight is the night they exchange identities.

She stands up. Chat shuts his eyes, clambering to his feet. "I should go." He says. "You'll h-have to _paw_ -don m-me." He says. He's doing his best to hide his pain from her, to put up that joyous front that he is her silly, casual crime-fighting partner and nothing more. He knows she knows he is about to cry and Chat Noir, _stupid, lovely Chat Noir is trying to leave before she sees what he thinks is his weakness in full._

She hugs him. It's the only thing she can do. She wraps her skinny arms around her best friend and squeezes with a strength that nobody who'd seen her outside her costume would be able to imagine she could muster. " **We** should go, ma _minou_." She says, leaning up on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear.

"My l-lady?" He asks, on the verge of sobbing. He's hugging back despite himself, despite his confusion and the urge to break away and flee that Ladybug is certain is coursing through his brains. "What do y-"

"Shh." She places a red spandex-clad finger on his lips. "I'm not letting you sleep alone tonight. Come back to my house with me."

Chat Noir is stunned. His big green eyes slowly fall downwards to meet her bright baby-blues starring right back at him, full of the compassion and kindness that he saw the very first time he met her. "I...O-our kwamis can't hold the transformation a-all night." He says. It's not a protest. It's a statement of fact, but Ladybug knows he thinks it'll make her change her mind.

"I know." She says. "Of course they can't, silly kitty."

"I… I don't want you to show me who you are out of pity, _Bugette._ " Again, he says it not as a protest. Not as an accusation. He says it as a fact, as though he is sure she could do nothing more than pity him. It tugs at her heartstrings.

"I could never pity you, ma _minou._ I'd have to think less of you to pity you." She says, patiently. She reaches upwards, still hugging tightly with one hand, to brush her fingertips gently through his hair, tucking a few strands of his blonde locks behind his head.

"I… I'd be t-taking advantage of you." Chat chokes out. "I… The w-way I feel, it wouldn't be r-right of me to…"

Ladybug shakes her head, her pigtails bouncing gently. "I'm promising to cuddle you, Chat, nothing inappropriate. You're my best friend, and I trust you to be a perfect gentleman."

Chat falls silent for a moment. Ladybug knows he's searching for another reason to protest, another reason to pull away, even though he desperately doesn't want to. But her kitty doesn't have it in him to protest. "Close your eyes, and hold on tight." She instructs. He always was good at following her instructs, and in a moment they're sailing through the air, towards Marinette's home.

Even when they land, Chat keeps his eyes shut tight, and Ladybug has to gently lead him, step by step, down the trapdoor and into her bedroom. If he recognizes the steps, if he has any inkling that he's entered this room before, he doesn't let out any indication.

"Are you ready, ma _minou_?" Ladybug asks softly. He wipes his wet face on his sleeve, before nodding with a weak smile.

"If it turns out we've never met before, I'm going to feel _paw-_ fully weird about all this… I can't shake the feeling that I must know you." Chat admits.

"Maybe." Ladybug says. "Let's find out." She closes her own eyes, knowing that when she opens them again, nothing will be the same. "On the count of three, we detransform. On the count of three after that, we open our eyes. And be quiet, kitty. My parents are asleep downstairs."

"Of course, I'll drop it to a _hiss-purr_." He says quietly.

"Thank you, _Chaton_. One…"

"Two…"

"Three." There's a little flash of light she can see through her tight shut eyes, and a little whooshing noise tells her Tikki and Chat Noir's kwami have vacated the area to give the two superheroes some privacy.

The feeling of soft cotton on her skin catches her off-guard, until she remembers that she had been in pajamas when she transformed. Black pajamas. _Chat Noir_ themed pajamas.

"Is everything good?" Chat says after a moment.

"Yes. I think you'll like my outfit, by the way." Marinette says, and she can hear Chat Noir gulp audibly.

"I suspect I'd adore you in any fashion, my lady. But, ah… One?"

"Two."

"Three." They say in unison, and when Marinette opens her eyes, her breath catches in her throat. Adrien Agreste is standing in the middle of her bedroom dressed in a red-and-black spotted onesie that she's ninety percent sure she saw sitting in the same store that she bought the Chat Noir pajamas she's wearing, with tears streaking his face and dark circles around his eyes and looking the biggest smile she's ever seen on his face, but a smile she's seen a thousand time on Chat Noir's.

"All this t-time… All this time you were right near me in class…Marinette." He says, sounding awestruck.

Marinette searches deep inside herself for a moment, and finds her voice. "A-And all this time you were right next to me, fighting f-for the city." She murmurs back. Suddenly, Adrien is complete. He isn't a list of extracurricular activities and a pretty face and a glimpse at a kind, caring soul Marinette saw when he gave her his umbrella. He's not the little inconsistencies Marinette sees peeks of, when he slips up with a pun or Nino coaxes a bit of teenage rebellion out of him, that she so desperately wants to understand.

He's Chat Noir. He's her partner. And all of her stuttering and schedule-stalking seems so, so foolish, because how could the two boys she loved most ever be anyone but the same person?

"I...I hope knowing who I am d-doesn't change anything." Adrien, Chat Noir, says. Marinette finds herself shaking her head slowly.

"It does. F-for the better." She stutters out, and not because she's embarrassed but because she's shocked.

"It d-doesn't suddenly make it w-weird? Your cl-classmate needing someone to cling to so h-he can sleep?" Adrien asks, and even in the darkness of her unilluminated bedroom she can see the blush on his cheeks.

Marinette takes a few steps forward, and she kneels down, and she grabs her _minou_ by his hand and kisses his knuckles before smiling up at him. "Not at all. Now come with me." She says, leading him over to her bed and sitting him down on the edge. "We should set alarms."

"O-of course." Adrien says. He reaches into his pajamas pants, grabbing his cell-phone. "T-this would be hard to explain, and I'll need to be h-home in time to keep up appearances."

"Set it for five. My parents get up at four, but they won't come to wake me until six." Marinette says. She walks around the bed, pulling up the top of her covers and clambering in beneath the comforter. She pats the bed next to her. "L-lie down, ma _minou_." She instructs.

Once he's set his alarm, he does, although not without clearly being nervous about the whole thing. It's funny, Marinette thinks. He's more nervous know than she is. Once he's tucked safely beneath the blankets, just lying next to her, there's a moment of silence, the sound of their breathing the only thing audible in the entire room.

"C-Can I hold your hand?" he says, at the same time as her "W-Would you like to hold my hand?". There's a moment, a shared, breathless giggle, and then two young hands clasped together innocently.

Suddenly, Adrien feels more secure than he ever has in his life. And the miraculous thing is, even as the holder of the Ring of the Black Cat and the bearer of bad luck, he has the fortune to fall asleep as peacefully as he does this evening for every night thereafter.


End file.
